First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 573,831 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 22.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,163,452 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 573,831 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.2% of First Trust Advisors LP's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,333,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 147.9% in the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $480.42. The business's 50-day moving average is $428.05 and its 200 day moving average is $418.65.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.68.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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